Vietnam native graduates from high school at 16

Moving to a country across the world and having to learn an entirely new language would force anyone into culture shock, but Truc Tu made it look easy.

Tu graduated from STARS Accelerated High School on May 26 at the young age of 16, finishing all of her coursework back in February.

But Tu has always been well-read and studious — even when she came to the U.S. from Vietnam at the age of 9 with her mother, Tu Doan.

In 2015, Tu started attending school in Arlington when she was in the fourth grade, knowing very little English at the time.

“When I first came here, I was really bad, like I didn't even know how grammar worked because they didn't teach me,” she said. “I started at a really weird place in fourth grade. That's when you take like STAAR tests on writing and stuff. I failed my first STAAR test. Back in Vietnam, I studied really hard because people expect you to do well in Vietnam. We have to make perfect marks, and then when I came here, I got a failing grade so I was like ‘Oh, no.’”

Luckily, Tu did not give up and continued to persevere with her studies, learning English rather quickly.

“It took me around one school semester to learn English,” she said. “I did learn some English back in Vietnam, but I couldn’t speak or understand it.”

Now, Tu speaks fluent English and Vietnamese. She said she understands some Korean from the television dramas she watches, but she wouldn't say she can speak it. At one point, Tu could speak Cantonese as well, but has since lost the ability, due to lack of practice.

The main difference between Vietnam and Texas, Tu said, was the amount of schoolwork that was required for her back home.

“It's very different,” she said. “Like we start really early in Vietnam. I had to wake up at like six in the morning to go to school and then school ends at like 4:30 and then I had to go to tutoring. But here's different. Like I go to school, I go home and then I do whatever I want.”

Starting school in Texas was rough for Tu at first, as she said it was hard for her to make friends. Fortunately, however, a Vietnamese community in Arlington made it easier for her to relate to the kids there and work on her English, where she made several friends in the process.

In 2020, right before the onset of COVID-19, Tu and her mother moved to Granbury. For one-and-a-half years, Tu studied from home, but was finally able to finish her freshman year at Granbury High School.

However, being her smart and diligent self, Tu wanted to graduate from high school early, so she told her counselor her plan to attend STARS.

“He was like, ‘Are you sure because your grades are pretty high and you're gonna miss a lot of opportunities?’ But I was like, ‘It's okay. I'll be fine.’ Like, I wanted to get things done quickly, like that's how I am. I don't like waiting and stuff,” she said. “It's just a lot more time consuming in the high school. There's a lot going on there and I felt really small because it's a big school. So, I said ‘I want to transfer to STARS,’ and it was really nice. It's a small school, like, everyone kind of knows each other so I liked it over there.”

Tu was one student who was solely focused on her education only and making a name for herself in the world.

When asked if it was hard making friends at STARS, Tu replied, “Oh, it wasn’t hard, but like, I didn’t give that much time. I was like, ‘If I’m going to STARS, I’m getting this done.’ I didn’t really pay attention, but I did meet some really nice people there.”

After Tu finished her coursework in February, she began interning at a certified public accounting office during tax season. She currently works at her mom’s nail salon, Lovely Nails, as a receptionist.

On April 14, Tu was also the recipient of a $1,000 scholarship from the Granbury Woman’s Club.

She has plans to attend either University of Texas at Arlington or Tarrant County College while working on obtaining her accounting degree.

“Part of the reason why I wanted to go to STARS is because I want to get my master’s degree and that would take extra time, so I was like, ‘I might as well just finish high school early and then I'll be right on time with my other friends, but I’ll have a master’s degree,’” Tu said.

Tu experienced her own form of culture shock after she finished all of her coursework in February during the middle of the week.

“After I graduated and everything, it felt different, like I was so used to going to school every day, and then I graduate in the middle of the week and then I just stopped going to school," she added. “Like, I feel like it's a lot, but I think there's so much more for me to do.”